Public safety, quality of life enhancements prominent in coming year’s budget

Looking back at the 2016 fiscal year and ahead at 2017, Vestavia Hills city officials said they are optimistic, and several projects are getting the green light.

The 2017 budget is 3.9 percent larger than last year’s, an increase of $1,386,727, which City Manager Jeff Downes attributes to the roughly 9-percent growth in sales tax and a 4.5-percent growth in property taxes. Barring anything significant, Downes said growth trends should continue.

“We budget very conservatively; we estimate conservatively, and absent of some economic downturn, we should see some surplus,” he said.

The total $37,185,611 budget will allow the city to shore up several departments, while moving ahead in many others.

Public Safety

Funding for the police and fire departments was a major talking point during the August election, and it continues to be a major focus for the city and a major part of the coming year’s budget.

“If you don’t have the right public safety foundation, all the nice things you want to do are not sustainable,” Downes said. “Public safety has to be a priority.”

At a city council work session about the budget, Place 4 Councilman George Pierce asked Downes what department heads had asked for that would be a challenge for the budget.

Downes said the answer was easy: They need more people.

In March, the city council approved the addition of three new firefighters and three new police officers to the city’s personnel, and the coming year will be the first fiscal year to absorb the entirety of that cost.

Additionally, a fourth police officer was added because of the partnerships the city has with various agencies, such as the FBI and DEA, that often take officers off the streets.

While Downes said the major funding issue for public safety is finding the funds for personnel costs, there are also several items up for funding this year to improve other areas of the two departments.

The budget fully funds the vehicle-replacement program, which will allow the fire department to repair a rescue unit and obtain a staff vehicle. It also funds some needed building improvements.

Both police and fire will benefit from a new remote-online system called Cradlepoint, which will allow officers and firefighters to file reports from the field, rather than having to come off the streets to do paperwork.

Both departments will also be supported by a new Public Safety Chaplain program, which Downes’ budget report says will “support the internal and external needs associated with public safety.

Sidewalks and Quality of Life

While the city is already underway on several sidewalk projects, the 2017 budget appropriates an additional $120,000 toward sidewalk construction. Funding is also appropriated for green space maintenance and aesthetic improvements to the city’s “common areas.”

The budget also addresses needs of the city’s senior citizens. The part-time senior programs coordinator position will be converted to a fulltime position in order to create more involved and “robust” services at the New Merkle House in Cahaba Heights. It also funds the purchase of a new senior transportation vehicle that can be used to drive senior citizens to medical appointments, among other things.

Financial Situation

As far as the city’s financial situation goes, Finance Director Melvin Turner said the city is in good shape.

“No anxiety right now, which is always a good thing,” Turner said.

As the 2016 fiscal year comes to a close and the final numbers come in, Turner said not only were revenues up and exceeding projects by a fair amount, but expenses were down.

He said department chairs are working hard to manage their budgets responsibly, and if something changes and they don’t need a budgeted item, they don’t buy it “just because.”

Because state law requires municipalities to have a zero-balance budget, Turner said the goal is always to meet projections as closely as possible. However, should there be a surplus, the city can use the extra funds for additional projects or initiatives at the turn of the fiscal year, and Turner said this has been the case pretty much every year for at least the last 13 years.

“We’re looking excellent,” he said. “I’m very satisfied.”

Others, such as David Harwell, are not so sure.

Debt and City Governments

Harwell is a life-long resident of Vestavia Hills, and he said he has attended city council meetings since Pat Reynolds was mayor in the late 1980s and 1990s.

At the meeting where the budget was passed, Harwell expressed his concerns to the council about the city’s recent increase in debt.

He said he is glad there has been some economic growth and appreciates nice facilities, such as the new city hall and the Library in the Forest — it’s just the way the city went about getting them he said doesn’t sit right with him.

“I think we need to do something in order to chase down the existing debt and not increase the existing debt just because we want things because we feel that we need to have it,” Harwell said.

Turner said the city has $56.6 million in long-term principal debt, or $77.2 million with the addition of interest.

He said, however, that the city is well within the lines legally to hold that much debt. State law allows for up to 20 percent of the city’s assessed property value to be taken out in loans, which for Vestavia would be a limit of $132 million, well above where the city currently sits.

“Some people frown on debt, and certainly I do — I like to be debt -ree, too — but that’s not realistic,” he said. “That’s not realistic at all.”

Turner and Downes both referenced the fact Fitch Ratings Company rated the city at AA+, and Moody Investors Service Aa1, which is just below the highest rating possible. Both said these third-party ratings reaffirm the city’s debt policies and liability management.

Downes said from his perspective, the value added by projects that may require taking on debt ends up being greater than the amount borrowed.

“It’d be great not to have to have any debt,” Downes said, “but with the cost of leveraged funds, interest rates, compared to the value that these particular capital projects can bring to the city, arguably you get more in return.”

He said he firmly believes if the city hadn’t invested in a new city hall, there would be no Sprouts Farmers Market or continued interest in the U.S. 31 corridor. He added many other projects the city has borrowed for are bringing in development the city needs.

Still, Harwell said he hopes to eventually see a line item in the budget that would take a portion of the city’s revenue and apply it to paying down the debt more quickly.

“If you do that, later on you’ll be in a better position,” he said.